Younger Than Yesterday [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

The Byrds | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 30, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002ACR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,394 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star

2. Have You Seen Her Face

3. C.T.A.-102

4. Renaissance Fair

5. Time Between

6. Everybody's Been Burned

7. Thoughts And Words

8. Mind Gardens

9. My Back Pages

10. The Girl With No Name

11. Why

12. It Happens Each Day

13. Don't Make Waves

14. My Back Pages (Alternate Version)

15. Mind Gardens (Alternate Version)

16. Lady Friend

17. Old John Robertson (Single Version)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Four of the five original Byrds were aboard for this folk-rock landmark. Within months of its release in the summer of 1967, David Crosby would move on and the group would enter a permanent period of flux. Younger Than Yesterday, however, finds songwriters Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman prodding one another with varied but complementary triumphs. "My Back Pages" is one of their best Dylan covers (and the Byrds had plenty of them), while "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" (written as a jab at the Monkees) represents two minutes of compressed pop cynicism that's as valid today as it was when it hit the airwaves. --Steven Stolder

Product Description

Audio CD.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic album from pop's finest year June 19, 2004

By Peter Durward Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

1967 was a vintage year for pop music and this album, one of the finest Byrds albums, reinforces my belief about just how much great music was released in that year, although all the tracks were actually recorded in 1966.. It was not especially successful at the time of its release, failing to make the top twenty of the American album charts, but it has aged well and may be better appreciated now than in 1967.

The album is notable for the emergence of Chris Hillman as a songwriter as well as great songs written or co-written by Roger McGuinn and David Crosby. The other notable feature is that this was the last album before the group went through a period of high staff turnover. Four of the original five were together for this album, the only absentee being Gene Clark. David Crosby was to depart during the recording of the next album after this and others followed later.

The album opens with So you want to be a rock'n'roll star (about the Monkees, whose music has stood the test of time, confounding their critics) - this song was a top thirty hit in America. It was the only hit although another single (Have you seen her) was released, which is probably why the album was not originally very successful.

Bob Dylan only contributed one song (My back pages) although two versions of it are included here. The other songs were all written or co-written by members of the Byrds. Of the remaining songs, I particularly like Everybody's been burned, Renaissance fair, Time between and Lady friend, but this is a great album from start to finish.

If you enjoy their music enough to want more than just a hits collection, this is a good place to start collecting their original albums.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Capturing the Magic - Going Mano a Mono April 2, 2011

By Maurice Broussard

Format:Audio CD

When it comes to many of the remastered recordings from the mid-to-late sixties, the words, "From The Original Mono Master Tapes" are music to my ears. And, so they are written across the unique container encasing the 24K gold CD of the 1967 album, "Younger Than Yesterday" by The Byrds. These are The Byrds, Byrds - still the core (80%) of the original band apparently at the eve of their breaking apart. But none of what must have been going-down between band members corrupted the music they produced on this recording as a group and individually. "Younger Than Yesterday" is a continuation of the folk-rock genre The Byrds, along with many of their southern California peers, were part of creating though filled with hints of the future creeping in via a couple of solid country-rock influenced tunes.
"So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star" leads off the album and here's the first example of the rewards received through the pleasure of monoraul sound. This is how I remember hearing the song on the AM radio; yes, FM and stereo broadcasts were beginning to program rock music across America, but that evolved over a long period while "the hits just kept on coming" out of the Top 40 format.
The record company, Audio Fidelity, brings out the magic of the mono on this release; that is, the sound is deep, full, rich and much broader than you may imagine when you consider mono compared to stereo. I want to hear all the instruments, voices and harmonies smoothly blended as one big sound and this particular Byrds album perfectly lends itself to the warmth necessary to achieve this lofty goal without violating any sound limits that work against the intent of the true fidelity. This is a refreshing listening experience and a welcomed break from all the stereo recordings and the separation of sounds that come with that process.
Of course, the band members went on to diverse musical careers, but that should not diminish the power of this record, especially in the context of its time - on many different levels, this is one of the greatest and most influential rock records of all time and the clarity of sound produced on this specific release will delight you - and, I dare say, surprise you too, if you never had the pleasure of listening to the mono version. Go mano a mono, you'll be at one with the recording as never before.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as it gets ? June 7, 2000

By nicjaytee

Format:Audio CD

Recorded in late 1966, released in early 1967 and lost beneath the "Summer Of Love" praise heaped on "Sgt. Pepper" and the first commercially successful albums from the "new wave" of West Coast groups, "Younger Than Yesterday" deserved, and still deserves, much more critical acclaim.

Put simply, this is one of the best and most cohesive records from a period of profound musical change. With the exception of David Crosby's rambling hippy talk on "Mind Gardens" and the bizarre "alien speak" at the end of "CTA 102", every song is tightly structured, superbly played and infused with the sheer enthusiasm of the mid 60's music scene. Driven along by "Roger" McGuinn's innovative use of the 12 string guitar and Chris Hillman's "lead guitar" bass, the group's highly distinctive arrangements provide a solid backdrop for their exquisitely controlled harmonies, and... over 30 years later... "So You Want to be a Rock & Roll Star", "My Back Pages", "Everybody's Been Burned" and "Renaissance Fair" (the ultimate hippy record with its jazz based structure, ecstatic lyrics and superb bass lines) still stand out as quite wonderful music.

And, unlike many "remastered" editions, several of the bonus tracks on this version add genuine value. Crosby's "It Happens Each Day" is equally as good as, and totally compatible with the other tracks on the album and raises the question of why it, rather than his messy "Mind Gardens", wasn't included. "Lady Friend" - arguably the best Crosby/Byrds track ever produced - is rescued from its previous life as a largely forgotten single and "Don't Make Waves", the simple but catchy B side to "Lady Friend", gets a further outing.

As good as anything released in 1967 and a great deal better than most of the records that received considerably more attention at the time, "Younger Than Yesterday" and its flawed but brilliant successor - "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" - capture innovative, harmony based West Coast music at its creative peak.